Kirtland Cleanup Work to Start With Pilot Project

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Air Force is going to start small but says it'll meet a July 1 deadline to begin cleaning up a long-ago fuel spill at Kirtland Air Force Base and avoid state-threatened fines of up to $10,000 per day.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that a pilot project will begin the effort to remove contaminants from the underground pipeline leak discovered in 1999.

According to state and Air Force documents, the pilot project's system would remove contaminants from an area of 50 feet across, a fraction of the area of contaminated groundwater.

The contamination is moving through groundwater in the direction of Albuquerque drinking water wells.

The state threatened fines unless the Air Force had started removing contaminants from the water in operation by July 1.